Category: Music

Nilüfer Yanya: “Miss Universe” (Review)

The term ‘indie rock’ is thrown around a lot, often meaning everything and nothing, and often being associated with that horrible sameness and the image of a guitar-wielding quasi-weirdo trying very hard to be different-but-not-too-different. That’s part of the reason London-based artist Nilüfer Yanya is such a breath of fresh fucking air. How do you stand out in a sea of guitars? Whatever it is, Yanya’s cracked the code with a deep British cadence and a mastery of paranoid, head-spinning love ballads on her debut album Miss Universe. If you listen to one new artist in 2019, you should make it her.

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Joey Purp: “Quarterthing” (Review)

Chicagoan Joey Purp was the quiet breakout star of 2016 with his debut album iiiDrops. Listen to any track of his and you’re not surprised he used to be in the SaveMoney crew – he has all the writing ability of Chance The Rapper. Quarterthing proves he’s no fluke. It’s not only consistent, but it packs a few sneaky surprises that show Purp is much more than the barking struggle rapper he might’ve seemed at first.

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BROCKHAMPTON: “iridescence” (Review)

How do you become a phenomenon? Right now in music, no one knows quite how to do it like Brockhampton. Like Odd Future before them, they’ve become a full-blown THING – more an idea or a vibe than a mere ‘group’ at this point. Their latest album, iridescence, has got all that same manic energy that made them so eye-catching in the first place. This isn’t a concept album or deep dive into the Brockhampton members’ personalities. This is just combustible energy releasing from a bunch of creative, confused twenty-somethings.

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Noname and Saba Sound Miles Away From Home On The Loungy “Ace” [Click To Listen]

Two rappers rooted deeply in the new-ish wave of ponderous Chicago music are Noname and Saba. Both came up around Chance The Rapper’s Acid Rap-hovering orbit in 2013 with respective eye-opening verses. But the great find was that both of these artists are brilliant in their own right, no qualifiers needed. “Ace” isn’t an earth-shattering single, but it’s further proof that these are two of the better, more thoughtful writers in hip-hop.

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The O’My’s: “Tomorrow” (Review)

The O’My’s Tomorrow is a low-stakes neo-soul album rife with tracks that don’t snap or pop, but instead warmly simmer and swirl around your brain. It’s the mark of a duo that have a crystal-clear idea of the music they want to make. This is ear-pleasing music – the soundtrack to a rainy Chicago day.

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Eminem: “Kamikaze” (Review)

There’s a telling skit on Eminem’s new album Kamikaze. It’s his manager, Paul Rosenberg, warning him not to go through with an LP basically full of scathing disses. You can hear it in Rosenberg’s voice – he’s dead serious about it being a bad idea. And he’s right. The aggro-rap Kamikaze proves two things we already knew about late-career Eminem. One: he can rap. Two: he cannot write an actual rap song. This is an exhausting, borderline-embarrassing album. Should’ve listened to Paul, Em.

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Blood Orange: “Negro Swan” (Review)

Blood Orange treads the same scattered, misty, non-linear paths as To Pimp A Butterfly-era Kendrick Lamar or latter-day D’Angelo on Negro Swan. Tracks lean and dart at weird angles. Sometimes it feels vexing and distant and you wish the focus narrowed. But most of the time, it’s beautiful kaleidoscopic chaos. It’s an album that feels refreshingly ambitious and unrestrained.

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